Greetings from the New ED

By Patrick Kwiatkowski

January 12, 2017

Dear HCAS Community-

I have been involved with the Society since its inception, but everything is new to me now!

I am honored to lead the Society after participating for the last nine years as a board member. I have watched the Society and Houston Cinema Arts Festival grow from a small group of people with an idea to an 8-day celebration of cinema arts about and by artists, that attracts visitors from inside the loop to around the globe. I have witnessed the development of year-round programming such as our summer Julydoscope celebration, our Artist’s Choice series, and recently CineSpace, our short film competition in cooperation with NASA. So let’s stop for a moment and celebrate what has been built – it is not easy to turn an idea into something that lasts 8 years.

Our challenge now, as we approach our 10th anniversary in 2018, is to “cement the legacy” and solidify the Society and our programming for the foreseeable future. And we can only do that with the people that are more important than the creators themselves – you – the supporters of the artists and our organization.

As we near our tenth year celebration, you will start to see new year-round programming that reaches new communities and constituents around this ever growing and ever more diverse city. Our marquee event, Houston Cinema Arts Festival, which will take place November 9-16 in 2017, continues to garner more regional and international interest, and CineSpace will soon open its call for entries for the third season. 2017 will be an exciting year here at the Society, and we hope to see you at our events.

I look forward to hearing your new ideas and suggestions for our continuous improvement. In the meantime please enjoy the show and don’t forget to turn off your cellphones.